Given the title it would be appropriate if we went out with a big bang. This blog will include some shots of John's place in Calgary and then take you with us to Las Vegas, down to the Hoover Dam, on to the Grand Canyon, and at a blistering pace to the Aircraft Bone yard in the middle of the searing Arizona Desert.
So stand by for some tedium. Due to the amount of content I am about to go through with you I have broken this last post up into a number of sub-posts. Please use the links below to navigate:
The Calgary Apartment Blog has a link at the end to the next one and so forth so start there
Slide Show Bone Yard - last one- thank goodness you say
We drove from the Canyon through the evening and into the night, through Flagstaff and down to Phoenix and got in rather late looking for a hotel.
Well fate is a great leveler.
From the grand suite and dazzling sites at Caesars Palace we pulled into the Ramada at about midnight. People with their room doors open allowing kids to roam the passages, a couple apparently high on something meandering around, a guy carrying in a crate of booze and to cap it a father and his daughter checking in about 2 doors down from our room.
Well it served its purpose for a night’s sleep (hopefully) and an early start to the aircraft museum about 2 hours drive out.
We had hired the car with the option to pay for a full refill at what we were told was a discounted price only to find that their discounted price was what we could actually get on the road. So we had paid in advance for a full tank refill and decided that on principle we would have to return the car on empty. Blatant challenge to Murphy!!
Phoenix and Goodbye
On the trip to and from the aircraft museum we did our calcs on fuel consumption and distance as well as the time to get to the airport for check in. At the last fill up we topped up calculating that we would have about 1 gallon or about 20 miles left in the tank. Plenty reserve we thought.
On the drive down to Phoenix the turn off o the airport was not in site when the red light came on. But we were counting on our calcs.
The turn off came up and we breathed a sigh of relief. We saw a highway board for our exit 3B. Then Murphy struck- gotcha. There was a roadwork and deviation on the freeway. Within sight of exit 3B we had to turn off on exit 3A. Now we were going around in apparent circles with traffic lights eating our reserve. The residual in the tank kept dropping and we fell way under 20 miles to empty and we had not seen the directions to the rental car return yet. We now had to turn the air conditioning off in the car to conserve fuel. We had assumed that the car rental return would be in the basement of the airport terminals, but not so, we were directed past the airport to who knows where. Not only were we running out of gas we were now running out of time. We kept going hoping that John would not have to push- obviously not me.
The trip computer “dropped the miles to empty” to below 10 and we finally found the car return with 6 miles in the tank.
We had little time to savor our victory of principle as we had lost our time reserve and I had to check in a short time before John. We dropped the car and headed for the shuttle bus only to find that there were individual buses for each terminal and we were departing from different terminals. It looked like our goodbye after a great holiday that had allowed us to bond as father and son was going to come down to a handshake in a bus station, when another traveler who saw the predicament popped up and advised John that he could get from my terminal to his in a short time.
After I checked in my son and I said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.
A beautiful and fulfilling trip together had come to an end.
Newark-JFK-Abu Dhabi-Bangkok-KL-
Perth
As the ploughman homeward plods his weary way, I left Phoenix for Newark Airport in New Jersey.
Spent the night at the Holiday Inn and took a town car to Ronnie and Amy in Hoboken before the wonderful BC phenomena resumed with a limo to JFK.
Amy kindly helped me with some washing and I selected a nice blue herring bone shirt to go with my grey pin stripped pants and shiny Floorshiems to finish the distinguished gentleman look.
Then Murphy popped up.
I spilt some cranberry juice on the collar of my shirt. Lipstick may have been one thing, perhaps adding a little “Je ne sais quoi" to my image, but red cranberry! - will not do!. So a quick clean and dry.
So it was that at 6.00 pm a distinguished gent boarded a waiting black limo and departed 1500 Washington Street Hoboken for JFK airport.
I checked in and made my languid way to the lounge and savoured the offerings while waiting to board. Not good!
Made my way to the gate and presented my boarding pass to the attendant. Instead of the screen reading “boarded” when he scanned it, as it had done for others before me, it read “Check Paz Record”.
“Please step this way Sir” –mental overload, Murphy!!, what the heck has gone wrong, I was feeling so relaxed and suave and now !!!!
A young lady types my details into the computer I see my name and some details on the screen. She rips my boarding pass in half,
NO! I chose that seat near the window for privacy.
NO! I don’t want a different seat.
Another boarding pass slides out of the printer. She picks it up and gives it to me and says “You have been upgraded to first class Sir”
Between my ear imbalance problem and my now spinning head I am not sure how I made it down the air bridge to the plane. But I recovered in time to take in the invitation to turn left, not right, but left on entry and be escorted to my, wait for it…, to my Suite.
Yes to a spacious suite. I thought Business class capsules were great but this blew them away. It was spacious and long with a little sideboard and cubby on the window side and a big 23 inch TV screen. Touch screen controls for the seat adjustment and massage.
I had to tell someone, I had to, how, I had no phone!. I asked a steward if there was WIFI- “No Sir”, but I have to tell someone. I examined all the plugs and found an RJ45, a network plug. There must be intent access hardwired!!. I asked another steward. “Sorry Sir it used to work but it is being upgraded”. What could I do. I could not share my good fortune with anyone.
Take photo’s
I don’t have a camera, my phone is in my checked in luggage.
My e-book has a camera???
Skype!!!, Skype has a video camera function.
Open the e-book. Now try and take shots without my own mug in the way and without anyone seeing.
No good, not enough light.
Ah Well sit back and lap it up.
As usual Sir orders a Baileys for after takeoff drink (because Sir only knows Baileys, Sir is clueless about the other drinks on offer and there is nowhere to throw it away if Sir can’t drink it)
Dinner time comes around. I am never going to be in First class again so I am going to own this menu, and I select from all three courses.
Steward arrives before dinner, opens the lid on the sideboard and pulls up a folding table, unfolds it into a nice 600 x 600 square top, spreads the white table cloth, and lays out the silver.
Press the icon on the touch screen and the seat slides up to the table. Very nice.
First course arrives, a healthy second course, finally a lovely desert.
Time to sip the Baileys and Watch a movie.
I should not have savoured the offerings of the lounge!
I am overfull and the ambience of first class is pushed aside by the need to sleep like a primitive python.
So the steward adjusts the seat to form a long bed and fits the fitted sheets. The bed has more than enough space length and width wise. I open the little black bag and change into a nice pair of black pyjamas. Hang my clothes on a hanger in the wardrobe to my left, slide the two doors to my suite closed, and I soon drop off into a deep sleep for virtually the rest of the 14 hour journey. A breakfast of omelet and mushrooms, and tomato awaits.
But right now flying could not be better as I enjoy a wonderful end to a fabulous journey with my son.
There is an expression alluding the beauty of Naples, that is “See Naples and Die” i.e. you have seen it all.
My advice. See the Canyon before you die, and see it from the Eastern entry point first, via the town of Flagstaff.
The Grand Canyon is the ultimate in magnificence and grandeur and the tragedy is that because of its proximity to Las
The following video is short but informative. As it starts from the left you see the plateau from which the Canyon originates with visibility of a narrow canyon top, as you move left the canyon opens up with a view to the river, and then right shows the depth of the canyon and sides
We drove from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon via the Hoover Dam.
The Hoover dam is impressive not so much because of its length or width but more importantly because of its height and the amount of water it retains. It also serves as a power generation facility.
We flew down to Las Vegas on Friday. The chaos at the Airport is in keeping with the flavour and character of the town. Masses and Masses of hopefuls with full pockets arriving and and masses upon masses of dejected with empty pockets departing.
We took the shuttle bus to the car rental place and John joined the queue to register and pick up our sedate compact. He finally got to the front of the queue and was summonsed to a counter by a clerk. As he made his way to the counter a very fat hairy Indian lady barged in front of him and attempted to engage the clerk. John "politely" advised her that he had been called to the counter and that she should be aware of and follow proper protocol to be served. After some toing and froing the clerk finally told the dear lady that she was going to serve John and that she should go to the back of the queue, which she reluctantly did. Regrettably she tried to kill him with her glares all the time. Not helping the situation at all. The boy was fuming.
Now what this individuals did not realise was that I had to drive hundreds of kilometers with my son, who had been raging the night before, collapsed on the couch and not had enough sleep and I still had a lot more planned for my life and did not want to end it on the barren wastes of the Nevada dessert.
To make matters worse instead of getting the sedate sedan we booked we had our choice of any dam SUV.
So once again I placed my life in my son's hands as we roared out into the dessert heat with me buckling up as quickly as I could.
It is a very hot town and not much to look at during the day, apart from the obvious fact that in one part of the town there is this strip of very tall buildings.
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We walked into the reception at Caesars Palace and I was immediately blown away by the size of everything, humongous statutes and fountains inside the reception area. Everything is oversize. There were more receptionists processing people than I have seen at an airline check in – seriously and there were queues of people checking in.
John's hotel accommodation mojo was working overtime. We had booked a standard room and subsequent to check in proceeded to our floor and room 2952.
John had hoped to get a room facing the Bellagio Hotel and its famous fountains and started to doubt that he had succeeded as we approached the room.
We opened the double doors and mama mia we were in a huge suite, I mean suite with separate lounge and dining areas, complete huge lounge and dining suites. It had three bathrooms. It not only had views directly over the fountain from the bedroom but also a view of the strip from the lounge.
We actually went back out into the passage to ensure that the room number matched that on the key pouch.
We took the lift down to the casino area and it is very difficult to explain but as you walk out of the casino per se you appear to enter a town square at dusk complete with 2 storey buildings all lit up with posh retail outlets, street lights on cobbled streets and roman statues on the building parapets. I say a town square at dusk because above you there is a pale blue sky with soft white clouds and a hint of sunset, with enormous copies of the Trevi and other fountains complete, horses and water and this goes on forever. It appears that the whole acreage of the complex has this subterranean alternative existence of a permanent cool and relaxing evening. Outside of course it is a cloudless sky and mid afternoon and about 40 degrees.
Back on the outside eventually night falls and everything changes. You have Times Square on steroids. The entire strip is a kaleidoscope of light. Every building tries to outdo itsneighbour with the size of the neon displays and changing colours.
We dressed appropriately for two cool dudes for a night on the town and hit the strip.
People of all shapes and sizes moved down the walk ways like a human tide, with gaggles of girls everywhere in little black numbers that were way too short and heels that were way too high.
We had dinner on the 107 th floor of the tallest building in the town with a 360 degree view over the city and I am going to let the photo’s speak for themselves again rather than try and describe it all.
After dinner the old man headed for bed and number one son decided to hit the town.
We were due to leave early the next morning to head out to the Hoover dam and Grand Canyon.
Well the boy nearly killed me when I woke up bright and early and he was nowhere in sight in the bedroom. Only a parent can fathom the number of possible reasons for his absence and actions I would have to take to try and find him, that flashed through my mind in a nano second.
I stumbled through to the lounge, and to my great relief, there he was spread out on the couch.
John's apartment is on the 16th floor with a grand view over part of the city and the river. I am not going to get into too much detail apart from saying this is where the genius is at work. (Have to, he is my son)
MY TRIP TO THE ICE FIELDS My verbal profusion is at the end
So please enjoy the slide show and the many video clips I shot to try and put it all into context. I apologise for not being able to remember all the names of the lakes and mountains.
Slides - the slide show may take a while to appear
THE VIDEOS
Bow river and Chalet from Mountain
Down to the river
Sulphur Mountain Top down
Around Sulphur Mountain
Looking back to the Gondola
At the top of the mountain
Getting close to the locals
The Athabasca Glacier from the Restaurant
The Glacier 360 degrees
Lake Pieto
Finally if you can "bear" any more videos
And on the other side of the road
I am not going to have much to say about my 2 day trip to the Banff Gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain. I am proud to say I managed the steps all the way to the top of the mountain from the gondola station up. The next day was the ride out to the Athabasca Glacier. The views do defy description and even photos fail to convey the grandeur, beauty and magnificence of the Canadian Rockies.
It is a trip I would recommend be done in your own vehicle as a tour bus bypasses so much that you could sit and admire for some time.
From here it is on to Las Vegas, Hoover Dam the Grand Canyon and the Bone yard.
I will then sadly have to part company with my son and bring to an end this great and rewarding time I have been able to spend with him. To all fathers I say, do it.
Video of Shuttle Launch expertly shot by rock steady hand John :)
We left the apartment on Wednesday about 10:20 with 10 minutes to get to the shuttle bus for the ride to the airport. We had reduced out contingency time by about 5 minutes due to late packing. We walked out the onto the street and Murphy struck. Bad sign of things o come. They were digging up the road we had to take to get to the pick up. We had to take an entire block deviation.
Exhausted we got to the pick up as the bus arrived, and got to the airport in time.
Our flight with Continental Airlines to Houston took off on time at 1:00 pm scheduled to get to Houston at 6:10 and we had a 6:50 connection to Orlando. All appeared good however we did not realize it but Murphy had sneaked aboard the plane.
We had to deviate because of storms and arrived at Houston late, lost our landing slot and by time they started boarding in Houston we were stacked n a holding pattern.
We finally landed at about 6:45 and raced off and up the air bridge, fortunately our departure gate was directly opposite the arrival gate so we ran straight across the terminal and into another air bridge and on to the next plane. We beat Murphy but had not lost him.
Got to Orlando and picked up the hire car. John had not lost his suicidal tendencies from Niagra, took off like a maniac out of the airport, did not follow his navigators instructions, took off in the wrong direction and we got lost, in alligator infested country.
Got to the hotel after 1:00 am and hit the sack only to have the air conditioner rumble like a truck idling through the night.
Thursday we drove to Kennedy Space Centre. Just amazing. Impossible to describe everything suffice to say everything you see in real life is much much much bigger than you could have ever imagined. We boarded a tour bus and saw the Saturn rocket used to get man to the moon. The base with the rocket engines is enormous about 10 meters wide and the rocket is over 40 meters long. They have the rocket, moon landing modules and all the rest of it in a cavernous building.
The shuttle itself needs to be seen up close to appreciate its size and the size of the solid fuel boosters and external fuel tank. I am going to have to let the pictures try and convey the magnitude of it all.
We spent a very wet day, with thunder storms and lightning, experiencing KSC. Would recommend it, KSC – not the storms. The launch did not look promising.
We had to endure the rumbling air con and rise at about 2:45 to board a tour bus at 3:30 to take us from Orlando to KSC and the launch on Friday. Before we slept we checked the weather and other reports and there was still only a 30% chance of launch. They were to hold a meeting at 1:30 am to re-evaluate the weather and determine if they would start filling the external tank. First thing I did on waking was to check the NASA site and, good news, they had started the tank filling at 2:00 am, so things looked good.
We boarded the bus and by the time we got close to KSC the traffic was unbelievable. Cars and buses everywhere. When we finally got to KSC before sunrise there would have been thousands of cars in the car park and buses.
We found some seats on the “bleachers” or stands and settled in to a 5 hour wait and hope and observe the sky and weather.
There was a big TV screen in the area we sat in and they streamed footage of the astronauts being suited u and strapped into their seats, with video coming from the cockpit itself other internal areas of the shuttle. Incredible viewing. Unfortunately in true American style they had to get some country singer on stage and entertain the crowd and gee them up. For a moment I thought we were going to hear "Achy Breaky Heart"
So we lost the cockpit footage and had to look at this dork prancing on the stage in his cowboy boots and hat.
"Houston we have a serious problem here"
Our views site did not allow visibility of the actual pad due to trees blocking the line of site.
We finally got back to mission control footage just before launch and experienced the whole countdown, down to ignition, main engine start and blast off. We saw the launch on the screen and then seconds later the shuttle appeared above the tree line on a pillar of fire. It was spine tingling stuff. It accelerated at an incredible speed and rocketed up into the sky leaving a cloud of vapour spreading out below the incredibly bright, white, tail of fire.
After it disappeared above the clouds the viewing continued on the screen from a video mounted on the fuel tank, saw the solid rocket boosters fall away, the earth slowly becoming smaller and finally when the shuttle detached from the tank the video continued with the tank appearing to just hang in space with the shuttle gradually moving away from it. Just amazing.
Regrettably that was it. It was all over.
Time to head back with a head full of memories, and the mundane, long traffic jammed ride back to the hotel.
We had to get up at 3:30 am on Saturday to get the hire car back, board our flight at 7:00 to Minneapolis, arrive at 9:30, for a 2 hour layover, and leave at 11:25, and hopefully get back to Calgary at about 1:35.
We managed to sort out the car quickly, checked in and were ready for breakfast at about 5:30. I had used my considerable charm to get us exit row seats. Fate had been kind. After all the uncertainty, the rain and thunderstorms on Thursday the shuttle had taken off. It had actually happened, and we were tired but early for our flight. Ah life is good.
Murphy struck
Our flight was delayed for one hour to 8:00 am. One hour lost from our layover.
Murphy put the boot in.
Flight was delayed another hour. No time left from our layover. We were in deep s%%%t, (pronounced “moo poo”).
Delta Airlines rescheduled us with American Airlines to Chicago, and a four and a half hour layover then United Airlines to Calgary at 5:30 and arrival in Calgary at 8:30. There are time zone changes at each stage as we fly north east.
So we arrive in Calgary 7 hours later than planned and to cap it we had a screaming baby 1 row back
.
But we saw the last shuttle fly. Life is good. Bugger you Murphy.
So it is now Sunday morning and with a travelers hang over I finish my Shuttle blog.
My son decided I could look after myself and let me take a bus trip up into the wild unknown on my own. Took a day trip to Banff and a tour of the lakes and mountains. The country is open, with wide expanses of fields in front of the backdrop of magnificent snow capped mountains, green grassed fields capped by grey/black with white caps. It is difficult to describe the grandeur and beauty of it all. So I hope you enjoy the slide show and the videos. My first time with this fancy camera so the focus is not quite right. We saw a bear in a field, unfortunately we could not exit the bus so I had to shoot through the window, I had not taught myself how to video at this point so I missed a great opportunity
The little bird I "shot" decided that he would try and have a go at my sandwich on the rock in front of me. John cropped the photo's of the bear and the bird to give you close ups. See if you can spot the train tunnel in the side of the mountain in one of the shots
We left Hoboken in a fancy black town car and headed to Newark Airport in New Jersey. Interesting thought, the half hour plus ride in a fancy car with leather seats, uniformed driver with cap etc, costs us $35, and a cab from Perth airport to Kalamunda costs about $50.00??
New Jersey is very much a port and industrial city. Got to see the boys in the hood "shooting hoops" in the fenced off courts we so often see portrayed on TV programs.
A short 2 hour flight to Toronto Island Airport. The airport is on an Island with no land bridge. So you exit to the ferry landing and get ferried across to the mainland.
We were booked into the Grand Hotel in Toronto. John knows the manager so this was the deal. We booked into a $300 / night room discounted to $150. Does not end there. We were then upgraded to a 2 level Ambassador suite. The photo's will speak for themselves but it was something else. Kitchen, lounge, two bathrooms, one for me, one for John, but he had to mess both up. Bedroom upstairs overlooking massive windows with views to the city. It has a huge heated indoor pool and a spa up on the roof.
Spent the evening walking Toronto and the next morning, we had to leave to pick up a hire car at our departure airport - Pearson. Well when one resides in the Ambassador suite one cannot really ask the concierge how one gets a bus for transport. No, one must book a limousine to transport one from a posh hotel.
So we departed the Grand with the porters carrying our bags, down the carpeted steps to this long black limo. Driver steps out and opens the back door for Sir, Sir is so gobsmacked and mesmerised when he sees in big black letters "BMW" on the silver door sill, the expansive cabin with black leather seats, that he misses the step off the kerb and almost falls undignified as a crumpled heap into the back seat. Grand departure blown.
The driver, who happens to have left Ceylon when he was 20, went to Germany and then on to Canada, and now at the age of 47 owns a touring company and this big black 7 Series BMW
is very chatty. In between taking calls on his mobile and effectively running his business from his mobile office, as well as being berated by his wife, while we do 140kmh down the highway, he points out the significant buildings in the town. One of the buildings looks like gold and happens to be coated with 65 kg of pure gold. . He is so busy with his calls that instead of taking us to the car hire location he almost drops us off at the departure terminal. We asked him what he thought of Toronto, was it a good city to live in?. His response, quick as a flash "Any city you can make money, is a good city"
I put my life in my son's hands and we headed out to Niagra in a powerful Chevy Malibu. Time to pray hard. On the way down we stopped at a small town shopping mall for a break. Could not believe the cost of food, Great butter croissants for $1.99 a huge 180mm almond croissant for $2.50. We are definitely getting ripped of in sleepy Perth and dear old Kalamunda.
I expertly navigated my suicidal driver safely to the falls and the glimpses you get are overwhelming, even while driving to find parking.
The place is a mass of tourists surrounded by huge skyscraper hotels with the USA just across the river. The water flowing from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario literally races towards the falls with incredible speed. The Canadian falls are huge and curved with a massive clear drop that results in permanent rain on the closer viewing areas, from the spray. The other falls called the American falls are pretty straight and not as impressive. The view from the Canadian side of the wide expanse of the curved Canadian falls is much better than viewing from the American side. For the bold and unwashed (met a few of them on the plane and at the airport- cool weather does not mean don't shower people) their are boats that take you right up to the base of the Canadian falls for a quick shower. The whole complex is beautiful with treed parks for families to picnic.
The photos will provide a better insight than I can and hopefully we will be able to load the great videos also shot by the producer, executive producer, director, key grip, bus boy, camera man, my son John.
We left Ontario for a 4 hour flight to Calgary. We thought we had a problem as when we booked in almost 2 hours early we did not get seat numbers on our boarding passes, something we noticed only when we were at the gate. The flight was overbooked. Fortunately they changed to a bigger plane and we got lucky with being allocated exit row seats.
We were due to land at Calgary at 10:30 pm and I got the shock of my life when prior to landing we had to raise the window shades and this shaft of bright light entered the cabin. I did not realise that we were flying north as well as west. The sun only sets sometime past 10:30 pm.
Time to chill out and rest up before our next adventures
John and the American falls
John and Canadian falls. American falls are to his right
The Canadian Falls
People in boat below having a shower
Water flowing towards the falls
Great wide angle of Canadian falls
Have to have evidence that you were there
Movie time thanks to John
Short clip
Long 360 degrees
Another long clip
Good Bye Niagra
If you can indulge me while we show off please
THE GRAND
The Gym - have to prioritise here
We step out f the lift
We gaze
We walk down passage
From the front door through the kitchen
Through the lounge to the balcony
Towards the entry
The Kitchen
The man at work
Up the stairs
The bedroom with mirrored bathroom door
The bathroom
The view from the bedroom
The pool
Time for a dip
The Surrey in New York, the Grand in Toronto - time to get feet back on the ground. My bed is the couch in Calgary
The last of our New York experiences before we headed off to Toronto Canada and the Niagra Falls
Ground Zero
The new Freedom Tower rises from the ashes of the Twin Towers
What used to be
Panorama of the construction site with crane on top of new building on left
My "Meeting" with the President
Here comes the President. Watch carefully
Nearly Here
Don't Blink here he comes
Here he is - don't blink
Too late - You blinked- he's gone
Liberty
Ronnie and I at the original docks were migrants were landed. Their first footfalls on mainland USA
The Statue of Liberty behind us
From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
And through the Golden Door they passed, through to the trains to a new place, a new hope and a new beginning.
